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Descent Part 2
'' |image= |series= |production=40277-253 |producer(s)= |story= |script=René Echevarria |director=Alexander Singer |imdbref=tt0708701 |guests=Jonathan Del Arco as Hugh, Alex Datcher as Ensign Zandra Taitt, James Horan as Lieutenant Barnaby, Brian Cousins as Crosis, Benito Martinez as Salazar, Michael Reilly Burke as Goval |previous_production=Descent Part 1 |next_production=Liaisons |episode=TNG S07E01 |airdate=20 September 1993 |previous_release=Descent Part 1 |next_release=Liaisons |story_date(s)=47025.4 (2370) |previous_story=Descent Part 1 |next_story=(TNG) Liaisons (Overall) The Homecoming }} In the Descent =Plot= Previously While responding to a distress call, the crew of the Enterprise encounter members of the Borg Collective that display individual behaviour. The subsequent investigation results in Data joining forces with his brother Lore, who has taken control of a group of Borg who have broken away from the Collective. The Conclusion Lore has discovered a way to give Data emotions and turned him against the Federation. Lore plans to lead these breakaway Borg to destroy all organic life; they believe that Lore and Data are perfect life forms. Picard, Troi, and La Forge are taken captive. Geordi's VISOR allows him to see a carrier wave being beamed from Lore to Data and they hypothesize that this is the source of Data's emotions and Lore's control over Data. For this reason Lore orders Geordi's VISOR removed. In orbit, the Borg ship is detected and Beverly orders the away teams on the planet to be beamed back aboard. However, there isn't enough time to get them all and 47 away team members still remain on the planet. Riker orders Dr. Crusher to leave the planet and come back only when it's safe to do so since the rogue Borg vessel has detected the Enterprise. Rather than leave the system, Beverly orders the crew to take the ship into the sun. Using the technology developed by Ferengi scientist Dr. Reyga, they modify the shields to allow them to get closer to the sun than the Borg can go. They use the ship's phasers to trigger an eruption on the sun's surface which engulfs the Borg ship, destroying it. On the planet, Lore orders Data to perform an experiment on Geordi's brain – an irreversible procedure with a "60% chance" of being lethal. Geordi tries pleading with Data, who ignores him and continues setting up the process. In their prison cell, the away team constructs a device which they believe will reactivate Data's moral subroutines, in the hopes that he will question his unethical actions, as well as the intentions of Lore. Meanwhile, Riker and Worf encounter Hugh, who tells them that Lore is the leader of this Borg group. He says that at one time Lore's help was necessary, but that he has since destroyed many Borg through brutal experimentation. Hugh's group are "rebel" Borg, wanting to remove Lore from power. The away team manages to reactivate Data's ethical programming just as Data is about to start the irreversible part of the experiment. Geordi pleads with Data, asking him to check his conscience. Data falters, claims that there are anomalies in the experiment and postpones it. Lore begins to doubt Data's devotion, and attempts to strengthen control by threatening to remove the emotions he has provided. Data appears to be subservient, but Lore remains suspicious, and orders Data to prove his loyalty by killing Picard. Data refuses, as the rebooting of his morality subroutines is complete. Two Borg seize Data and Lore is about to execute Data, when Riker and Worf arrive, accompanied by Hugh and some of his rebel Borg. Battle commences and in the ensuing confusion, Lore flees, pursued by Data. In their ensuing confrontation, Lore attempts to talk Data into escaping with him. Unswayed, Data shoots him with a phaser then deactivates him. In the aftermath, Hugh becomes leader of the Borg group. The Enterprise returns to Federation space. Data reports that Lore is to be disassembled permanently and he also intends to destroy the emotion chip, as it is "too dangerous", citing the harm he has inflicted under its influence. However Geordi intervenes, and advises him to keep the chip until he is ready. |group="N"}} =Errors and Explanations= Internet Movie Database Continuity # In Brothers (Star Trek: The Next Generation), Data's emotion chip was seen as a small round sphere; here it is shown as a round flat disc with a triangular section missing from it (and still later, in the movie Star Trek: Generations, it is seen as being much larger and an entirely different shape yet again). The emotion program may have been transferred to different chips. Plot Oversights # Ensign Taitt being assigned to Tactical after only serving aboard Enterprise for six weeks. Maybe Crusher thought a stint at Tactical would be good experience for the ensign. # Riker and Worf not reacting to Hugh's mention of Lore. Perhaps they had deduced that Lore was involved, possibly due to his theft of the emotion chip, which would explain Data's sudden flashes of emotion. # Troi asking La Forge if he is in pain after he is returned from Data's lab, despite being an empath. Either the entry forcefield is disrupting her empathic senses, or she is testing Geordi's responses. # Hugh statment about the Borg on the planet not being able to rejoin the collective. The drones on the ship that recovered Hugh may have been abandoned by the collective as a presavation measure. Changed Premises # Troi stating that Data seems to only feel negative emotions, despite stressing in Descent Part 1 that emotions are neither positive or negative. She is refering to Data's behaviour in relation to the emotions he is experiencing. Equipment Oddities # Apparently only using one transporter to beam everybody off the planet before the Borg ship arrives. Using multiple transporters at the same time may cause interference. # Lore's Borg being easily disabled by having their tubing pulled out. The effects of Hugh's new fould individuality could have weakened the tube seals. # The tractor beam used to trigger the targeted supernova coming from the phaser array. There may be a modified tractor beam emmiter in the phaser array. Nit Central # rachgd on Friday, June 04, 1999 - 4:40 pm: So, Lore is the ultimate in cybernetic development, huh? A mechanical god? But...didn't Hugh call Data "...primitive..", and tell him he would soon be obsolete in "I Borg"? I don't understand! Someone, please explain it to me! (Or, correct me, in the all-too-likely event that I have my facts wrong.) ROBMAN on Tuesday, June 22, 1999 - 12:47 pm: Oops, You are comparing Data's and Lores. Data and Lore are remarkably different. In ways we can and cannot understand. For one thing, Lore has a "Type-R" processor (Time's Arrow Part 1) and Lore has emotion. And Lore knows how to speak to the Crystaline Entity. Seniram Besides, Lore probably took advantage of their confused state to convince them of his superiority. # Sophie Hawksworth on Saturday, March 31, 2001 - 2:11 pm: When the metaphasic shield is activated, gauges show the hull temperature and radiation reducing. Oddly enough, the temperature drops sharply, while the radiation drops slowly. Isn't this the wrong way round? Isn't the hull temperature being caused by the radiation? Not on it's own – the hull temperature is due to the proximity to the heat generated by the star, while the radiation is all around the ship, with some of it contained WITHIN the metaphasic shield. # Duke of Earl Grey on Wednesday, June 13, 2001 - 2:16 pm: The first time I saw this episode, one scene left me very disturbed. It was that one where Data comes strutting back into the Borg hall after the melee has ended, having just deactivated Lore. He says something along the lines of, "I have deactivated Lore. We must disassemble him so he no longer poses any threat!" What does Picard say? "It's good to have you back, Data." Granted, Picard need not be a hardened cynic, but how does he know this isn't Lore impersonating Data? Instinct! # LUIGI NOVI on Thursday, June 14, 2001 - 1:31 am: Why don’t Riker and Worf use their phasers on wide beam during the Borg brawl at the end of the episode? Since they’re attacking individual drones, I have to ask: How do they tell the difference between Hugh’s drones and Lore’s drones? There is too much of a risk of a wide beam hitting Picard, who is in the middle of the brawl. # At the end of the episode, Lore tells Data that, without him, Data will never feel emotion again, and Data responds that he knows. How’s this? The chip is still in Lore’s head, and all Data has to do is remove it, which he ends up doing. It turns out to be damaged, but Lore and Data don’t know that at the time of this scene. Data probably realised that the chip had been damaged when he fired on Lore. # John A. Lang on Thursday, January 09, 2003 - 8:42 pm: WAIT A MINUTE! Didn't Admiral Nechayev give Picard A DIRECT ORDER to destroy the Borg in pt. 1? I believe she did. So, why did Picard spare Hugh & his group of Borg AGAIN? Did Picard want to kiss Hugh "goodbye" or something? 1) Hugh's group are no longer part of the Collective. 2) Any attempt to comply with Nechayev's order by using the Invasive program would be doomed to fail, as the first Borg ship to encounter it would be cut of from the Collective just as quickly as the one that retrieved Hugh. 3) The program was designed to act as a weapon capable of causing mass destruction to the Borg, meaning it's use would constitute an act of genocide (which is exactly the reason Picard decided not to use it). # Pentalarc on Friday, March 26, 2004 - 8:52 pm: Ensign Tate has "already configured the emitters"? Good thing that Dr. Crusher agreed with the plan, or Tate would have wasted quite a bit of time in a very critical situation. Perhaps Tate decided to configure the emmiters as a precaution. # John A. Lang on Monday, August 02, 2004 - 12:25 pm: Near the end, Data deactivates Lore. Granted, it's a good idea, but Lore should be regarded as "sentient" as well as Data. Why not just stun him then repair him like Soong wanted to? must add that leaving Lore in the Delta Quadrant wasn't exactly a smart move either! I mean...the universe ain't exactly a safe place, ya' know! All that needs to happen is some hostile force to re-activate Lore & you have more problems than what you had now! Brian FitzGerald on Monday, August 02, 2004 - 1:06 pm: Who said they left him. They probably took him back with them, remember that they had the emotion chip in Generations. Seniram Besides, taking the components of Lore back with them will allow them to be studied in isolation by various annexes of Starfleet Corps of Engineers and the Daystrom Institute. LUIGI NOVI on Tuesday, August 03, 2004 - 12:11 pm: Who said Soong wanted to repair him? He didn't repair him; he shut him down after the other colonists complained, and then subsequently built Data.. There was no indication that they left Lore in the Delta Quadrant. As Brian said, they most likely took him back and put him into storage. John A. Lang on Tuesday, August 03, 2004 - 12:28 pm: In "Brothers", Soong indicated that he wanted to repair Lore...if he had the time. But because of Soong's impending death, he couldn't fix Lore. LUIGI NOVI on Thursday, August 19, 2004 - 11:33 pm: Yes, when Lore asks Soong why he didn't just fix him, Soong responds that it wasn't as easy as that; that the next logical step was to construct Data, and that afterwards, he planned to get back to Lore, to fix him. You were right, John. In answer to your question of Why not just stun him then repair him like Soong wanted to?, I would say that given Soong's statement, that it was not easy. Soong never got around to figuring out how to do this (otherwise he would've done so). Since Data's own skills as a cyberneticist are imperfect, as is the cutting edge of sentient androids, as illustrated by the fact that no one can create a sentient android that survives for more than a short time, it is reasonable to understand that no one knows how to fix Lore. # John A. Lang on Sunday, August 15, 2004 - 3:36 pm: When the battle between the Borg drones engages, Picard just stands there in the middle of the fray instead of ducking for cover. With all the Borg surrounding him, there is nowhere to hide! =Notes= =Sources= Category:The Next Generation Category:Episodes